This invention relates to the general area of sanitation engineering.
In particular, the invention relates to a shower system designed especially for use in commercial aircraft. In addition, the invention relates to the use of such a shower system in an aircraft, as well as to an aircraft equipped with such a shower system.
Known from the public commercial domain, e.g., from outdoor or indoor swimming pools, are showers that are equipped with a mechanical shower time limiting device, which release a stream of shower water for a limited time at the press of a button, without it being possible to terminate this stream of shower water before the time has elapsed. Also known from the public commercial domain are showers in which hot water can only be activated for a predetermined time by depositing coins. However, once a person has activated a shower stream, it cannot be deactivated again before a predetermined period has elapsed, which may in the end result in elevated water consumption and little comfort. Precisely limiting water consumption to a specific maximum quantity per shower cycle may also be not possible with the known shower systems.
Furthermore, those showers may have no drainage facilities, i.e., for evacuating fresh water from the shower system. In this way, the known showers may form so-called “water bags”, understood to denote water inclusions in the shower system lines located in a local deep point of the lines. The existence of such water bags may make it impossible to use known shower systems in the area of commercial aeronautics, since such residual water may tend to freeze, for example, if an aircraft remains unheated in a cold location for a longer period of time, which can end up damaging the shower system, in particular its lines. In addition, these water bags may become a source of growth for germs and harmful microorganisms, which may result in microbic contaminations, thereby impairing the water quality.